The present invention relates to an energy saving faucet of the single handle mixing valve type.
A conventional single handle mixing valve type faucet has a housing having a valve cartridge located therein. The valve cartridge has an actuating stem movable along a substantially vertical flow-control axis for varying the water flow rate between a no water flow rate (full off) and a maximum water flow rate (full on), and movable along a substantially horizontal temperature-control axis for varying the temperature of the water flow from cold water only to hot water only. A handle is connected to the actuating stem to allow a user to manipulate the stem along its flow-control axis with an up-and-down (vertical) motion of the handle, and to manipulate the stem along its temperature-control axis with a back-and-forth (horizontal) motion of the handle.
In use, the user of such a single handle mixing valve type faucet will typically turn off the water flowing from the faucet by vertically lowering the handle at some position intermediate the cold water only and the hot water only positions of the actuating stem. The next time the faucet is used, the user typically will merely raise the handle vertically upwards from the position in which it was left from the prior use thereby causing a mixture of hot and cold water to exit the faucet, which results in drawing unneeded hot water from the hot water heater with a resultant waste of electric energy.
It would be desirable to provide a faucet which allows a faucet of the single handle mixing valve type to be turned off and on only when the handle is in the cold water only position to thereby eliminate unneeded usage of hot water with its resultant electric energy wastage.